Tom Green County eyes accelerated timeline for additions to new jail

Construction of the new Tom Green County jail may accelerate, with Phase 2 plans potentially kicking off sooner than expected.

The county had planned to operate the old and new jails concurrently and expand the new jail at a later date. But the Commissioners Court on Dec. 19 unanimously approved new negotiations with architects in hopes of adding the development of Phase 2 construction documents to their contract.

Several factors led officials to seek the change: the burdensome cost of operating two facilities at once; the need to remodel the Tom Green County Courthouse; and the money that would be saved by tackling Phase 1 and Phase 2 at the same time.

"If we build enough pods out there, then we certainly do not want to have the cost of operating two different jails," County Judge Steve Floyd said.

OPERATIONAL COSTS

This file photo shows a jail cell.(Photo: Andrew Selsky, AP)

Construction is underway on the $51 million Phase 1 of the jail, consisting of 328 beds, with the plan to be finished by mid-2019. It is being constructed behind the current jail at 3262 U.S. 277 N., northeast of San Angelo.

An update of the construction progress during commissioners court included the near completion of underground plumbing and electrical systems, and approximately 100 tilt walls already poured, with the plan to start erecting those in January.

Floyd said the county is thinking of adding about 200 more beds in Phase 2, which would probably cost an additional $12.5-$12.7 million. Since the county was looking at a 50- to 60-year phased build-out plan for the jail, all the support systems and areas are in place for the additional dorms or pods.

“We’re just hoping we don’t have a major equipment failure or repair over there (at the current jail).”

Judge Steve Floyd

The operational cost of the current jail, built in 1976, is budgeted to run the county $7.7 million in fiscal year 2018. In addition to the already high price of operating a detention center, Floyd said the facility's age brings with it the potential for unexpected costs.

“We’re just hoping we don’t have a major equipment failure or repair over there,” Floyd told the court.

The jail has stayed in compliance with minimum jail standards since at least February 2014, but that accomplishment didn't come without help, said Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

“There have not been any notices of non-compliance issued,” he said in a phone interview. “However, during each one of the inspections, there has been technical assistance provided in several different areas, which required to be resolved or corrected. Otherwise a notice of non-compliance will be issued.”

Counties with older facilities often find “that the preventive maintenance and upkeep becomes more and more burdensome because it's starting to wear out,” Wood said. “Parts will be harder to find because equipment is 30 years old.”

Buy Photo

The existing Tom Green County Jail at the corner of Irving and Harris Streets.(Photo: Rashda Khan/San Angelo Standard-Times)

Rising upkeep costs, and the need for additional units and beds, drive the need for a new facility. The current facility has 446 beds, but the population has reached 540 in the past year, Floyd said.

In Fiscal Year 2017, about $820,000 was spent on housing inmates in other county jails, despite the budget allotting only $30,000 for it.

Floyd said that number doesn’t factor in the cost and time spent transporting inmates, sometimes as far as Limestone County, more than 200 miles east of Tom Green County.

In the FY 2018 budget, the county recognized more money was needed for outside inmate housing and raised the sum to $720,000. The county has spent almost $67,000 of that allocation since the fiscal year began in October, Floyd said. That works out to about $22,000 a month, which seemingly would put the county well under budget at $268,000 for the year. However, Floyd said the pace is unlikely to remain steady.

“At this pace, we can afford it,” he said. “But jail population is down right now because it is winter.”

He expects the cost — and the number of inmates — to rise dramatically during the summer, as jail populations have risen during summer months in the past.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards suggests the number of beds at a jail should be 10 percent above the average daily population, to ensure there is room for inmates who need special classifications.

Inmates, upon entering the jail, may receive special classifications depending on the circumstances of their person or charges. For example, women are housed separately from men; co-defendants in a homicide case would need to be held separately to prevent communication; and inmates 17-and-younger are housed separately from older inmates, to be compliance with the Prisoner Rape Elimination Act.

These classifications require additional beds and space within the facility, sometimes creating a situation that is “like running two jails in one building,” Floyd said, adding that the county is now housing several murder defendants, making the situation more complicated.

All of this information led to the decision to build a new facility, but the conversation to expand that project, and eliminate the need for running two facilities, has a lot to do with the cost and logistics of operating both simultaneously.

“The concerns with operating two jail facilities was the staffing required because you may end up doubling up positions in order to operate two separate facilities,” said Wood.

“The concerns with operating two jail facilities was the staffing required because you may end up doubling up positions in order to operate two separate facilities.”

To maintain two facilities, medical staffing in particular would need to increase drastically. For the past three years the county has had a contract with Shannon Medical Center to handle the jail's medical needs. With both jails required to have a medical unit, additional staff would have to be addressed in the Shannon contract.

“The new medical area being provided in the proposed facility is quite a bit more than what is being provided at the current county jail, and it should help with the operation of the facility because they won’t be required to transport as many back and forth to the hospital for routine care,” Wood said.

The same would apply to the county's food service contract with Aramark, because food could not be prepared at one facility and transported to the other legally. Both kitchens must be maintained and operated independently, requiring more employees. Additionally, Floyd said, the maintenance of the kitchen is significant in itself, with three meals a day being served.

The cost of handling laundry probably would not be affected much, he said.

For jail personnel staffing, both facilities would be required to ensure all other functions and duties were carried out, such as the commissary, booking and intake, property and more.

There is a minimum ratio of one officer per 48 inmates for supervision purposes.

COURTHOUSE REMODEL

Buy Photo

Tom Green County Courthouse(Photo: San Angelo Standard-Times)

In 2014, the county was scheduled to be out of debt, which led to a needs assessment. Among the greatest concerns were the detention center and the courthouse, which was built in 1928 and designed to handle only half the number of courtrooms it now has, Floyd said.

To address courthouse renovations — estimated to cost $10 million — the county hoped to receive a grant from the Texas Historical Commission, but the chances of that are diminishing, Floyd said. Decreased funding to the commission points to a decrease in the likelihood of receiving a grant.

"We need the courts operating at full capacity at this point in time," Floyd said, adding that plans for courthouse renovations are temporarily on hold as officials re-evaluate options.

At the Dec. 19 Commissioners Court meeting, Floyd proposed temporarily holding court in the current jail, once the new jail facility is built and if all inmates could be moved to it. That would allow renovations to proceed at the courthouse without disrupting the court system, he said.

The building could potentially continue to host court duties after renovations at the courthouse are finished, he said, because eventually, “we know there will be a need to have additional courts created.”

The proposal would keep all court-related duties in one centralized location, but the option is not available, Floyd said, “unless all of the jail functions were combined at the new site.”

CONSTRUCTION COSTS

"Construction is on time and under budget," said County Judge Steve Floyd regarding the new facility of the Tom Green County Jail. (Photo: Yfat Yossifor)

Another argument for expanding the current construction project is that money will be saved by adding Phase 2 to the plans while construction teams are already on site.

Kyle Franke, a partner of KFA Architects, told the Commissioners Court the price of construction does increase by completing the phases at separate times.

He explained that each time a discipline is finished, such as plumbing, that construction team moves on to another project. By combining the phases, some of those disciplines would be completed all at once, eliminating the need to bring specific construction teams back.

“Each month that goes back, more things are completed and those teams move on to another project,”­­­­­ Franke said.

Floyd stressed that the current construction plans are on schedule and under-budget.

Construction would not need to be stopped to add Phase 2 plans, but Phase 1 would be finished earlier.

“If we don’t get started now we are going to miss our window,” Floyd told the court.

“If we don’t get started now we are going to miss our window.”

Judge Steve Floyd

Under purchasing law, without negotiating a completely new contract, which requires requests for proposals, the existing contract with KFA can be modified by up to 25 percent. The current contract — which covers architectural designs and engineering work — is for $3,215,900, meaning the amendment to the contract cannot exceed $804,000.

The approval for negotiation does not commit the county to any additional costs at this point. The negotiating team, comprising Sheriff David Jones, County Commissioner Bill Ford and Don Killam, supervisor of the construction, will return to the court after negotiating with KFA on a price for the scope of work that will be provided. While there isn't a deadline, Floyd said he expects the court will hear from the negotiating team by Jan. 9.

In the decision of whether to amend the contract and proceed with construction of Phase 2 of the new jail, the county must first determine an estimate of the operating costs of the new facility. That cost, combined with the increased debt that will be associated with additional construction, would need to be weighed against the cost of operating two facilities, while also keeping the courthouse renovations in mind.

"It sounds like it can be done, if we do it immediately," said Commissioner Ralph Hoelscher. "But we need to borrow money, and that takes time."

If the court agrees to the contract amendment, KFA will create construction documents that will then go out for bids. White Construction, the construction manager at risk, is responsible for soliciting and taking bids, then making recommendations to the court.

“Construction documents still need to be done, regardless of whether we go forward with the construction now, or five years from now,” Floyd said.